The current trajectory of the Highway Trust Fund is unsustainable. Starting in fiscal year 2015, the trust fund will have insufficient amounts to meet all of its obligations—CBO projects—resulting in steadily accumulating shortfalls.
April 2013
A wide array of possible changes in federal policy might bolster innovation.
In mid-May, CBO will issue two reports: one showing its projections of federal revenues and spending over the next 10 years if the President's proposals are adopted; and the other providing updated 10-year baseline projections.
CBO recently testified about the differences between the traditional CPI and the chained CPI, and this post describes what the chained CPI does differently and what problems that might fix.
Many analysts consider the chained CPI to be a more accurate measure of the cost of living for the average person than the traditional CPI—but increases in the chained CPI may understate growth in the elderly’s cost of living.
Jeffrey Kling, CBO’s Associate Director for Economic Analysis, discusses his testimony before the Subcommittee on Social Security of the House Committee on Ways and Means.
CBO estimates that using the chained CPI governmentwide starting in 2014 would reduce the deficit by $340 billion over ten years by lowering benefits for Social Security and other federal programs and by increasing revenues.
Over the past two decades, the number of children in federally subsidized foster care has steadily declined, while the number of children whose adoptive parents receive federal adoption assistance has increased.
Spending for military retirement pay and survivors’ annuities will rise by more than 30 percent over the next decade, CBO projects.
The number of people receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has risen sharply in recent years—from about 26 million in 2007 to nearly 47 million in 2012.